GIACCO, BERNARDO MARIA. - Capuchin, born in Naples on 28 Sept. 1672 and died on 5 June 1744. A celebrated preacher, he combined richness of imagery with popular style. He began his preaching career during Advent in the small town of Piedimonte; but because of his frail constitution he withdrew to the convent at Cava and to Arienzo, where he devoted himself to writing his finest orations. From his retreat he often went to Naples to deliver his panegyrics.
Of wide and varied learning, he cultivated his taste on the Latin classics and the great Tuscan writers. He was a friend of Vico, to whom he sent his first *Scienza nuova* (1725) with a well-known letter. He regarded the panegyric as «a kind of poem in prose», so much so that he was called the Monti of the pulpit. His *Orazioni sacre* (3 vols., Naples 1746–47) were reprinted many times (11th ed., ibid. 1850) and many entered into collections of sacred orators.